DirecTV Viacom War Coming To An End: MTV, Comedy Central, Coming Back

Viacom Inc. and the satellite TV service provider said Friday that they were able to settle a dispute that had cut off access to 17 Viacom channels for DirectTV subscribers, reports the AP. Though the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, which had been unavailable to at least 20 million DirecTV customers since July 10th, have apparently settled their disagreement over how much DirecTV should pay per channel.

During the dispute, Viacom also shut off access to full episodes on its own websites (MTV.com, ComedyCentral.com) to all visitors, even ones who had nothing to do with the disagreement. The move was thought to be a pointed response to DirecTV, who told its U.S. subscribers where to find their missing programs on the Internet that they couldn’t get on TV. DirectTV wasn’t too happy with Viacom’s response, reports Newser. “The attention surrounding this unnecessary and ill-advised blackout by Viacom … serves notice to all media companies that bullying TV providers and their customers with blackouts won’t get them a better deal,” said a rep. Roughly 850 small and independently owned local cable systems making up the American Cable Association were opposed to Viacom’s move, as were Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Mediacom, according to DirecTV.

Thankfully, millions of viewers are one step closer to ending their various frustrations. Viacom announced Tuesday that new episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report would be shown once again on its websites, lifting the online viewing ban that it imposed the week before. The announcement came just one day after both of those shows started showing new episodes after a two-week break.

Viacom is excited to bring its programs back to DirecTV, and thanked its customers “for their patience and understanding during this challenging period,” in a statement.

Are you a DirecTV subscriber? Were you affected by the black-out? Are you happy to see your channels coming back? Sound off below!